


Wingardium Leviosa

by orphan_account



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Established Relationship, Family Fluff, M/M, Squibs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-25 15:43:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3815938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry and Draco's daughter, Eloise, isn't showing signs of magical ability and none of them really know how to cope with that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wingardium Leviosa

**Author's Note:**

> This is a repost!

Wingardium Leviosa

Draco noticed something was wrong the moment he caught Eloise with his wand. Harry had been trying to teach her a few spells (mainly Wingardium Leviosa) and nothing happened. She'd stolen Draco's wand and muttered them under her breath but nothing happened. The pencil she tried to levitate didn't so much as twitch.

Draco stopped himself from calling out to her and stepped around the doorway; where he could watch her but she wouldn't be able to see him. He was reminded of all the times Harry had come up to him sadly to say that their seven year old daughter had failed to pick up on even the most basic of spells. Eloise was a smart child, there was no way she wasn't getting it intellectually.

This was Draco's chance to find out what was happening for himself.

“Wingardium Leviosa!” cried Eloise. She had the pronunciation part correct, even the wand movement, but still nothing happened. She growled in frustration and tried again, then again, then again. Nothing worked.

Now that he was thinking about his daughter's magic, Draco realised just how little she actually showed signs of magical ability – if she had ever showed any before. Magical children were prone to outbursts of wild magic depending on the strength of their emotions.

Draco recalled an outburst of his when he'd been around six years old. He'd been forbidden from riding his broom because he'd done something wrong that he couldn't remember now. He'd gotten so mad at his parents his magic had boiled inside him until he could no longer contain it, and it shattered one of the windows in the dining room. In retrospect, it was odd that his parents had reacted happily to Draco breaking a small part of the house by hugging him and telling him how proud of him they were. It had been the first time Draco showed any sign of magical ability.

A sign that Harry and Draco were still waiting to see from Eloise. A sign Draco was now wondering if they'd ever get to see.

The more he watched, the more a leaden weight of dread grew in Draco's gut. He knew what this meant; he knew but didn't want to believe it because it couldn't be – it couldn't be that.

But the more he watched, the more he realised it was inevitable.

He would have to sit down with Harry and discuss the fact that they may be raising a Squib.

*

Eloise was playing with her dolls in her bedroom when she first heard the screaming. Her head snapped up in alarm – she knew the sounds of her fathers' voices, but she'd never heard them fight like this before. Oh, they argued, but they never screamed at each other. Curiosity got the best of her and she discarded the doll, tiptoeing from the room, interested to see what the commotion was about.

“She's – she's only seven!” shouted Papa, rubbing his puffy, red eyes from beneath his glasses. “Draco, that's too young. We can't know for sure until she gets older.”

“Children show magical abilities when they're young, Harry, so think about it; when was the last time you saw Eloise perform magic? I don't know about you, but I don't remember her causing any trouble with magic. I've never even seen her use it,” said Daddy. “Maybe we ought to just consider the possibility – get her tested or something. St Mungo's would be able to discern whether or not she might be –”

Papa slammed his hand down onto the kitchen table loud enough to make Eloise jump in fright. “She's just a little girl! Neville didn't show any magical prowess until he was almost Hogwarts age!”

“So we're going to base our daughter's magical talent on Longbottom's unsurprising lack of one?”

“Draco, you're such a fucking _arse!_ ”

Eloise found that she didn't want to hear any more. Her parents were arguing about her. They were angry because of _her_. Spinning on her heels with a tiny sob, she ran back to her room and slammed the door. She didn't hear any more shouting for the rest of the night.

*

Draco still stood by his suggestion to get Eloise tested, much to Harry's chagrin. Seven was much too young to even consider that yet. Maybe when she was ten it'd be an option that Harry would be open to, but not _seven_.

If she turned out to be a Squib, what if it was all _his_ fault? He'd been a Horcrux for seventeen years of his life, and maybe this was his punishment for that. Maybe life was punishing his daughter because of that. He didn't understand how Squibs turned out to be Squibs, and he just … he feared that he might've had some part to play in it.

Merlin, would she even be allowed to attend Hogwarts as a student when she turned eleven? His heart hurt at the thought; Hogwarts had been a home, a haven, a safe place for him – how could that be denied to his baby girl? Or anyone? He rubbed furiously at his eyes.

“Harry,” said a soft voice from behind him. Harry span around to face Draco, who looked forlorn and more than a bit nervous, shuffling from foot to foot like he stood on hot coals. “Are you thinking about – about Eloise?”

“If you're here to suggest she get tested again –”

“I'm not,” said Draco quickly. “I just wanted to apologise.”

“For what?” asked Harry stiffly.

“For upsetting you. Maybe you're right and this isn't the sort of thing we should be thinking about right now.” Draco worried his bottom lip, and made Harry want to scold him; he'd strip the skin right off his lips and give himself sores if he did that. But Harry kept his mouth shut, waiting for Draco to continue. “It's just … I'm worried. Eloise may be the first Squib in the Malfoy family line –”

“Oh, so that's what you're worried about?” snapped Harry, leaping to his feet. He wanted to punch Draco so hard in the face. “That Eloise will ruin the precious Malfoy family line?”

“N-no, I didn't mean it like that!”

“You know what, Malfoy?” said Harry, his voice dripping with disdain, drowning out Draco's protestations. Draco reared back, shocked at the use of his last name. They hadn't referred to each other so formally since they started dating nine years ago. “You disgust me. That's your daughter you're talking about, who the fuck cares about the stupid Malfoy family line? Just fuck off and leave me alone.”

“H-Harry …”

“I said _go_!”

A crackle of electricity stung the air between the two of them. Draco leapt back to avoid it, his face a mixture of fear and shock. Without a second thought, he fled the room and left Harry to his turbulent thoughts.

Willing himself not to cry, Harry sat down heavily at the table once more and buried his face in his hands. Guilt and shame rose up inside him like an uncoiling dragon.

No matter how he felt, he shouldn't have exploded like that at Draco. They were both worried about Eloise. Draco was definitely worrying about her in his own way, even if that way included fretting over the condition of the Malfoy family line. Maybe he should go and apologise –

“Wingardium Leviosa!”

His daughter's cry had Harry sitting up so fast he almost fell out of his chair. He stood up on shaky legs and followed the sound of Eloise's voice. He found her in the living room holding Draco's wand (Draco really needed to keep better track of that thing). She gritted her teeth and went through the swish and flick motion required to make the spell work.

“Wingardium Leviosa!” she shouted. Nothing happened. “Dang it. Wing – Wingardium Leviosa!”

A movement out of the corner of Harry's eye caught his attention. Draco stood directly opposite Harry in the doorway to the kitchen. His gaze flicked between Harry and Eloise, and Harry had never seen such heartbreaking sadness. He wanted to go to Draco, apologise and wrap him up in a hug – but he didn't want to alert to Eloise that she was being watched.

“Wingardium Leviosa!” The paper she was trying to levitate did not move one bit. She growled in frustration, lifting her arm like she was about to slam the wand down on the coffee table before she remembered that the wand wasn't hers to begin with. “Come on, I've got to get it right. I have to prove to Papa and Daddy that I'm not broken.”

Harry couldn't just stand there in silence any more. “You're not broken, Ellie.”

Eloise whipped around with a gasp. “You were _watching_ me!”

“You weren't being quiet about it,” said Draco, moving out of the doorway with his arms folded across his chest. “If you want it to be a secret, try not to shout.”

Eloise went red to the tips of her ears. “I was practising. I wanted to show you that I'm not – that I'm not broken. I want to do magic for you both.”

“Even if you can't do magic, you're not broken. There'll be a place for you in the wizarding world without it.” Harry decided not to tell her that it would likely be a small, insignificant place for her, possibly as a Hogwarts' caretaker like Filch had been. “Or you can make your way in the Muggle world.”

“But Daddy …” Eloise turned to Draco. “What about the Malfoy family line?”

“You – you _heard_ me?” spluttered Draco. In that moment, it was easy for Harry to see which parent Eloise took after the most. His lips twitched in a smile he quickly suppressed. “Oh, Eloise –”

“What you have to understand, Eloise,” said Harry, and Eloise turned her attention back to him, “is that your father was raised with this stuff. He was raised to take stock in the Malfoy family line – and so was his father, and his father before him. It was important to them. But your father … he doesn't believe in that sort of stuff any more. He just said it out of habit.”

“Is that true, Daddy?”

Harry and Eloise turned to look at Draco at the same time. Draco flinched and took half a step back.

 _Come on, Draco,_ Harry thought. _Don't choose now to be an idiot and say the wrong thing._

“It's true.”

The tension in Harry's shoulders eased. He shot a fond look at Draco, who winked in return. That was all the confirmation Harry needed; they were alright.

“So you won't hate me if I can't do magic, right?” asked Eloise, her voice hitching, tears pooling into her eyes. “I've tried and tried, but _nothing_ is working.”

Draco sat down beside Harry as Harry pulled Eloise in for a hug. On second thought, Harry reached out and dragged Draco into it by his collar. If this was going to be an emotional hug, then it might as well be an emotional hug as a family.

“We could never hate you, Ellie,” said Harry. “Don't be so silly.”

“You're perfect the way you are,” Draco added.

They held her until she stopped crying, and all she had left was hiccups.

“Oh,” she said softly, holding Draco's wand out to him. “You probably want this back.”

Snorting, Draco took it and stowed it away. “You're probably right.”

“I promise I won't take it again,” said Eloise. “I'm pretty sure I won't need it any more anyway.”

Harry knew that they all had to sit down and discuss Eloise's future, prepare her for the fact that she might not ever get to go to Hogwarts as a student, prepare her for the fact that the wizarding world may not have a place for her after all. But right now, they were a family. They were happy. There was no need to sadden her so soon. They had four years before they truly had to worry, and Harry was determined to make those four years the best years he could. He kissed Eloise's cheek, then kissed Draco's lips, which made Eloise groan in disgust. They were a family, and they would make this work.

*

On Eloise's eleventh birthday, she didn't get an acceptance letter to Hogwarts.

She allowed herself an hour of moping, before she shrugged it off and continued on with her life. She had seen Hogwarts on numerous trips her fathers had taken there, mostly on business and occasionally just to say hello to the professors – particularly Professor Longbottom. Papa spent _ages_ talking to Professor Longbottom, before Daddy dragged her out of there to inspect the grounds, as he was equally bored with them as she was.

Whilst Hogwarts was beautiful, and some part of her was sad that she wouldn't spend the next seven years of her life living there, she had been taught not to hang her hopes on anything. Daddy and Papa had prepared her for that moment. She knew she was a Squib, and that was that. They didn't love her any less, and that was all that mattered.

Upon her suggestion, they enrolled her in a Muggle school. Armed with the knowledge that she couldn't speak a word about magic to any of her classmates, she managed to fit in rather well. Her friends were none the wiser to the magical world that her fathers were part of, and she found that was just how she liked it. She wasn't a freak in the Muggle world; a girl with no magic had a place here with them.

For the first few months, Daddy had worried about her to the point where she wanted to yell and hit him. Papa took her aside and explained to her that this was just how Daddy was and he just didn't understand the Muggle world. He'd never been raised around anything Muggle. Daddy was learning about this new and foreign world through her, and she took it upon herself to sit down and explain _everything_ to him every day after school.

Sitting around the kitchen table nursing cups of tea and answering Daddy's confused questions turned out to be the best part of her day. She looked forward to it more than anything; it showed her that Daddy cared enough about her and the life she would lead in Muggle world to ask questions. He _wanted_ to know.

On her eighteenth birthday, Eloise told her parents that she wanted to be an actress. Daddy and Papa were very supportive and had Galleons transferred into British pounds to pay her way into the school.

Her first role was in a play about a young witch finding her place with other witches and wizards in a world full of magic.

Nobody but her fathers knew why she laughed and laughed and laughed.

**The End.**


End file.
